PARVILLE, Henri De. 19379

£65

Description

Autograph Letter Signed ‘H. de Parville’, to ‘Cher monsieur’ [Pierre Hippolyte Boutigny, professor of chemistry, in Evreux, De Parville’s birthplace], about someone going to Italy, and destiny’s demand that when De Parville wants to go right, another [l’On] wants him to go left. In French. A good one page example, 8 x 5 inches, integral blank leaf tipped on to part album page. Blind embossed initials H.P. 19 August 1862 The uncommon autograph of Henri de Parville (1838-1909), scientific journalist, author of An Inhabitant Of The Planet Mars (1864), a hoax report in which a meteorite dug up by a Colorado oil prospector contains a mummified body believed to originate on Mars. This early theory of extraterrestrial life caught the attention of Jules Verne’s publisher who released the work in an expanded version.